The present invention relates generally to the field of interface devices and to techniques for configuring such interface devices.
A wide range of interface devices are known and are presently in use in many different fields. In industrial automation, for example, human machine interfaces or “HMIs” are commonly employed for monitoring or controlling various processes. The HMIs may read from or write to specific registers such that they can reflect the operating state of various machines, sensors, processes, and so forth. The interfaces can also write to registers and memories such that they can, to some extent, control the functions of the process. In monitoring functions alone, little or no actual control is executed. In many other settings similar devices are employed, such as in automobiles, aircraft, commercial settings, and a host of other applications. In many applications, the interface may not communicate with a remote device or process, but may be operated in a stand-alone manner.
Challenges in the field of interface devices, particularly those that can be configured by original equipment manufactures and even by users, involves development of a design environment used to change properties of the interface screens. That is, various screen views, visual representations of objects, virtual buttons and visual devices, and their functionalities may be changed. However, configuration of such components is often complicated and specialized software is most often developed to coincide with the software components on the interface device. In certain cases entire configuration packages are developed for running on specific types of workstations that are used to configure the devices.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved approach to configuration of interface devices. There is a particular need for an approach that can permit virtually any underlying software components and structures to be accessed and changed without specialized knowledge or reference to the underlying interface device software.